Road to Passion (19 page)

“You think that might be
something your Prez needs to fuckin’ know, Mack?” Crow snapped, lowering his
gun, but keeping it cocked.

“Yeah, well, I was supposed to
get a phone call before anyone came by,” Mack said to Jaxon.

“I called Carter and Aidan,”
Jaxon said, unapologetically. “Neither of them picked up.”

“Yeah, well, Ace and Knight
aren’t here,” Mack said. “Brothers, lower your guns. No one’s gettin’ shot
today.”

Mack’s brothers lowered their
guns, which meant Jaxon’s team did as well, and the situation was diffused...
for now.

A phone pealed in the silence and
Jaxon put his to his ear. “Yeah? Well, we’re here, where are you? Yeah, Carter,
I told you we’d come by this morning if we had anything. Well, la dee fuckin’
da, little brother, I’m sorry you missed out on some beauty sleep.”

While Jaxon and Ace hashed it
out, Mack texted Darien to let her know everything was okay and she could come
down whenever she felt like it. She arrived a few minutes later, Barney in tow.
She stalled when she entered the room, her head moving from Jaxon’s team to the
Dogs.

Flick called Barney over and
scooped him up before heading outside with him. Flick was one of the older
members, a soldier through and through, with a failed marriage and four old
ladies behind him. He wasn’t much for niceties or patience, but Darien’s dog
had wrapped Flick around his paw so to speak and Mack found it hilarious.

Mack made his way to Darien,
leaning down to kiss her gently. “How are you feeling?”

“A little nauseous and a lot
confused.”

“We got some business to take
care of.”

“I picked up on that,” she said.
“Where’s Millie?”

“Upstairs.”

Darien frowned and crossed her
arms. “Is she
allowed
to come downstairs?”

“She is now that it’s safe.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Darien
relaxed and bit her lip. “I thought something else.”

Mack chuckled. “Yeah, I picked up
on that.”

She gave him a contrite smile.
“Do you want some breakfast?”

“If you’re up to makin’
breakfast, babe, I’d love some.”

“I ate some crackers before I
came down, which helped.”

“You gonna call the doctor
today?”

She smiled, the one that made
Mack want to take her back to bed for a few hours. “Yes, honey, I’ll call the
doctor.”

“Thank you.” He leaned down and
kissed her gently, and then let her go.

He took a minute to tell Train he
could release Millie, and then joined the agents. Ace and Knight walked in a
few minutes later and they headed back to the conference room.

I
DECIDED TO make two large urns of coffee,
figuring the men would be a while and would probably appreciate it being
available. I knew for a fact they’d drink it, so I wasn’t worried about making
too much.

“’Morning,” Millie said as she
walked into the kitchen.

“Hey, honey. How did you sleep?”
I hugged her with a smile.

“Honestly? Better.”

Millie had pulled her hair back
into a bun and wore sweatpants and a tank under her zipped hoodie and she
looked beautiful.

“Good.” I giggled. “Want to help
me make breakfast?”

She glanced around the room. “Are
we feeding an army?”

“Kind of. We’ve got about twenty
guys here, either just because or dealing with your stuff.”

Millie blushed. “Shit, sorry,
Dare.”

“Don’t be sorry, Mill. It’s okay.
I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”

“I can do that all by myself.”
She smiled. “It’s all good. What do you need me to do?”

“Do you want to make the eggs and
I’ll handle the bacon and hash browns?”

“Sure.”

Millie stepped to the sink,
washed her hands, and we worked on making the breakfast of bikers.

I’d mixed up pancakes, but
decided I wouldn’t pour them on the griddle until I knew when the guys would
actually eat. I texted Mack, didn’t hear back immediately, so figured they were
in the thick of it.

Flick was sitting in the common
room with Barney on his lap (seriously, my dog was a whore), reading
Outlaw
Biker
(no surprise there), and probably waiting for orders. It’s what
soldiers did. “Flick?”

“Yeah, babe?” he said without
looking up.

“I don’t know how long Mack and
the boys will be, but do you want to let anyone else who’s here know we’ve got
breakfast on?”

“Not really,” he said, again
without looking up.

“Well, we’ve got bacon, eggs,
hash browns, and pancakes that are getting cold, so if you don’t let the rest
of the guys know; I’ll make sure Barney suddenly hates you... and believe me,
when I want him to, he holds a grudge.”

He raised his eyes above his
reading glasses and stared at me for a few seconds. “You’re a fuckin’ hardass
when you wanna be, aren’t ya?”

I grinned. “You have
no
idea.”

He set his glasses on top of the
magazine and moved Barney to a couch cushion, then headed out of the room, let
out the loudest whistle I’d ever heard, and then bellowed, “Soup’s on,
assholes. Get it while it’s hot.”

I shook my head and Millie broke
into giggles. “These people are crazy.”

“I know it. But I’m finding
they’re my kind of crazy though, and that’s even crazier, don’t you think?”
Millie bobbed her head up and down and I laughed. “Suck it, Millie.”

“I’ll grab plates,” she offered.

Men filed into the kitchen with
varying grunts of, “Thanks, babe,” “Fuck, yeah,” or just a nod, but to me, it
was as good as a thank you. Millie and I made ourselves scarce, settling in the
common room on one of the sofas.

Our attention was drawn to the
main entrance of the common room as Mack, Ace, Knight, Booker, Hawk, and Crow
walked in with three men in suits. “That’s a group of illegally hot men,”
Millie whispered.

“God, I know,” I breathed out.

Mack smiled, splitting off from
the group and making his way towards us. “Hey.”

“Hi.” I raised my head for a kiss
and grinned. “You done with whatever it is you needed to do?”

“Yeah, babe.” He sat on the
coffee table in front of us. “It’s out of our hands now.”

“What does that mean?” Millie
asked. “Can I go home now?”

Mack shook his head. “You need to
stay here until I get word from Jaxon. They’re putting a case together, and
until it’s done and the Kozlovs have been picked up, you need to be somewhere
they can’t get you.”

“And my family?”

“They’re fine, Millie,” Mack
assured.

I slid my feet onto Mack’s lap
and he raised an eyebrow. I grinned and sipped my coffee. “Pregnant women need
foot rubs.”

“Do they?” he asked, and slid my
shoe off, wrapping his hands around my socked foot and squeezing.

“Yes, yes, they do.” I grinned at
him over my mug. “
But
... you can do that later, honey. You should grab
some breakfast before it’s all gone.”

“Did you eat?”

I shook my head.

“On purpose?” he challenged.

I sighed. “Sort of.”

He rose to his feet, leaning down
to get nose to nose with me. “I’ll get you some toast.”

“Thanks, honey.” He walked away
and I turned toward Millie. “I’ll stay here as long as you have to.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” I smiled. “I can work
anywhere and Mack can as well, so it’s fine for a while.”

She giggled. “I thought our
slumber parties were over.”

“We could always have a pillow
fight and throw the men into a tizzie.”

Millie gasped. “Darien Alana
Aherne, you naughty minx, you.”

“Right?” I giggled. “You can
blame Mack for my newfound filthy mind.”

“Oh, it was always there,
darlin’, you just kept it to yourself.”

I covered my mouth when nausea
attacked me suddenly.

“You okay?” Millie asked.

I took several deep breaths just
as Mack returned with a piece of plain toast and another Sprite. He frowned. “You
need a bowl?”

“No, I don’t need a bowl,” I
snapped, and covered my mouth again. Mack waited for a minute and when it
passed, I sighed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.”

“I get it,” he said, and handed
me the toast before walking back to the kitchen.

I took a bite and swallowed,
grateful my stomach handled the food.

“When did your morning sickness
start?” Millie asked.

“The worst part started last
night. I hope it doesn’t last long. This sucks.”

“Mom puked through her entire
pregnancy with me.”

“Shut up, really?”

Millie nodded. “She said she
thought she’d escaped it because it didn’t start for almost nine weeks. She
lost weight in her first trimester. It was scary.”

“Don’t tell her shit like that,
Millie,” Mack scolded as he sat next to me, setting his coffee on the side
table. “It’ll freak her out.”

Millie shrugged. “Just keepin’ it
real.”

“Well, fake it a little for now.”

I giggled. “I’m okay, Mack. I’m
not freaking out.”

“We’ll have a bowl close during
the ceremony,” Millie added.

I gasped. “Oh, crap, I didn’t
think about that.”

“Millie!” Mack snapped. “Damn
it!”

“What if I puke on our wedding
day?”

“It’ll be fine, baby,” Mack
assured. “You’re seein’ the doctor this week and she’ll be able to help.”

“That’s true.” I leaned against
him and he wrapped an arm around my waist.

“So, Millie’s gonna keep her
doomsday speak to herself,” Mack continued.

“Millie’s gonna do whatever she
damn well pleases,” she muttered. “Unless Darien says otherwise.”

I dropped my head on Mack’s
shoulder and giggled. “You won’t win this one, honey.”

“I already have.”

“Oh, okay, honey.” I heard
Millie’s quiet chortle as I took one more bite of toast then reached for my
laptop, snuggling closer to Mack. I scrolled through my email and saw a
familiar name. “Oh, wow.” I leaned forward slightly. “Mill, remember that agent
I contacted ages ago?”

“Yeah, the one who requested your
book?”

I nodded. “She just emailed me.
She wants to sign me.”

“Ohmigod, that’s awesome.”

“Is it? I’m not so sure.”

“How come?” Mack asked.

I leaned back again. “I just feel
like she wants me now that I’m on the NY Times. Before that, I didn’t feel like
I could even get arrested and she didn’t contact me sooner, so I don’t know. It
just feels weird.”

“You could tell her you’d like
her to help with movie and television options, but you don’t need her for your
print options.”

“Can I do that?”

Mack smiled. “You can do anything
you want, babe. I can help with the contracts.”

I grinned. “Sometimes I forget
just how useful you are.”

He kissed my cheek and whispered,
“I grabbed something from the house, so I can remind you how useful I am
later.”

I shivered and kissed him gently.
“Can’t wait.”

“Email her back... no, hand me
your computer, I’ll email her, you can approve it and send.”

I nodded and handed him the
laptop. He wrote a much better response than I could have, and then I made it
sound like me and sent it off.

“I found the perfect song for our
first dance,” I said.

“Yeah?”

“Yep, here, listen.” I handed him
my ear buds and he slid them in, I pressed play.

The next thirty seconds seemed to
happen in slow motion as our happy banter and conversation went from light and
easy to the world exploding around us.

A sharp pain sliced through my
arm and then Mack’s body was on top of mine as we lay on the back of the sofa.
Somehow, it had been flipped on its side and he’d come to rest on top of me.
Through the cloud of smoke, I could see his lips moving, but I couldn’t hear
him. “What?”

He waved his hands in a “stay”
motion and I nodded. The sudden pain and ringing in my ears pulled focus from
my arm as I craned my head to see Millie beside me, her left leg soaked in
blood. Once I saw her, my pain seemed to disappear.

Before I could crawl to her, I
was picked up and dragged out of the common room and away from my best friend. I
tried to protest, but we were in chaos. “Mack!” I screamed. “Mack!”

Strong arms held me tight, but I
knew they weren’t his. I looked frantically around, swallowing down bile to see
part of the building at the front gone, bloodied bodies stumbling around, some
lying on the ground... I didn’t know if they were alive or dead, it was total
carnage.

I tripped and as I was righted, I
saw Train holding me to him. “Where’s Barney?”

He mouthed something to me, but I
couldn’t hear.

“Where’s Barney?” I screamed.

He scowled and then lifted me in
his arms, running toward a van. I don’t remember anything after that as my
world went black.

* * *

Mack saw the
explosion, more so than he heard it and flipped the sofa as quickly as he
could. When he ripped out the ear buds, he realized they may have saved his
hearing. Millie had just stood up to get more coffee and she was flung
backwards, hitting the ground, hard. Mack shielded Darien the best he could and
checked her for injuries, tying off her arm, before inching toward Millie. He
tore a piece of his T-shirt and tied off her leg, but it was a mess. She’d
taken the brunt of the hit as the blast went off just as she was passing them.

Surveying the room, he waved
Train over. “Get them somewhere safe. They need to get to the hospital. Make
them priority, Train, yeah?”

“Yeah, brother.”

Confident Train would take care
of his woman; Mack rushed into the fray and found a bloodied Flick curled in a
ball by the television, white fluff squirming in his grip. Mack knelt beside
him and forced back his emotion as he felt for a pulse. There was nothing.

“Fuck!” Barney squealed in pain
and Mack helped to free him from Flick’s grip. The dog barked at Mack, growling
and showing his teeth the closer he got to Flick. “Barney, boy, it’s me.” He
continued to snarl. “Come here. We’ll get you to Darien.” Barney wouldn’t leave
Flick, so Mack had to make a decision. It was dog or human at this point, so he
rose to his feet and Barney curled up next to Flick. The man had protected him
this far, he hoped he’d continue to.

He headed to the safe room where
he was relieved to find they hadn’t lost anyone in the meeting today. Jaxon,
Brock, and Dallas were still there, on their phones giving orders to their
superiors, Mack assumed.

Everyone was bloody. Whether it
was theirs or someone else’s, Mack couldn’t be sure, but it was a sobering
sight.

Hawk stepped forward and hugged
him. “I’ve got the recruits sorting through injuries.”

“Flick’s dead,” Mack said.

“Fuck!”

“I can’t get that damn dog to
leave him, so we’ll need to get him to the vet as soon as we can. Darien’s
gonna be frantic if she doesn’t know what’s going on.”

Hawk nodded. “Dallas called Macey
to alert her to the situation, and we’ve got ambulances on the way.”

“I didn’t think they’d go this
far.”

“Me neither, brother.”

“It’s war,” Mack said.

“No it’s not,” Jaxon countered.

“Where the fuck did you come
from?” Mack snapped.

Jaxon gave a wry smile. “Give us
two days, Mack.”

“No! They almost killed Darien
and our baby, not to mention her dog. They killed Flick and we don’t know how
many others yet.” Mack shook his head. “We’ll deal with them.”

“You deal with ’em and we have no
case, you get sent up for murder, and we’re mutually fucked. We’ll deal with
’em.”